MoD put tennis courts before housing repairs, say MPs

Over half the accommodation for single armed forces personnel and over 40% of family quarters are below standard, yet the Ministry of Defence has given priority to tennis courts and all-weather sports pitches over essential work such as fixing roofs, the Commons public accounts committee says in a report released today.

Some military personnel and their families will continue to live in substandard housing for the next 20 years, says the report. It says the MoD was forced to make cuts last year because it was not prepared for a sudden increase in the price of fuel. Despite the poor state of living quarters - an issue which the government has said is a priority - 20% of the cuts fell on the housing budget which accounts for less than 4% of the MoD's total operating costs. The ministry cut maintenance rather than postponing work such as the construction of all-weather pitches and the resurfacing of tennis courts. The MoD now accepts the decision "seems questionable in hindsight".

Most of the MoD's family houses were sold to a private company, Annington Homes in 1995 in a leaseback deal which raised £1.7bn. The ministry plans to spend £5bn upgrading service accommodation over the next 10 years. However, it emerged yesterday in figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that almost £2bn of this will be spent on renting the buildings from Annington.